The Illusion of Communication

I recently wrote a sequence of emails for a client, promoting body sculpting treatments.

We’ve been working with this particular aesthetic clinic for several years, and during that period, we’ve promoted CoolSculpting, VASER and Vanquish for them perhaps 15 times…

Talking about them individually… In different combinations… For different body areas… Leading up to open days and webinars… Each time finding a new, engaging angle.

We’re probably talking about 50 emails in total – a huge amount!

And I have to confess that each time, as we roll out yet another campaign for a body sculpting treatment to the exact same audience, there’s a little voice in my head that says...  

“But surely there’s no one left to take us up on this offer! Anyone on the list who was interested could have responded to our last email sequence… Or the one before that…”

And each time, I’m amazed all over again… They get inquiries, appointments and sales.

I was thinking of that last night, when I listened again to my latest podcast interview with Graydon Ursel, about how to use SMS to unlock more patient sales.

We were discussing how many times you need to follow up with some patients to get a booking. And something Graydon said struck a chord:

“You’re doing a disservice by not selling, if someone has shown an interest at some point…

“A lot of [clinic owners] think they’re marketing to a static group of people… But actually, people’s situations are always changing. They’re never static.

“So you can reach out to one person one week, but then the next week they could have got a promotion at work or something… 

"There are so many things that can change in their life [that will change the way they react to your offer]. And so you shouldn’t assume the people’s situations are always the same…”

He’s exactly right. There are a million reasons why someone who wants to get rid of their love handles or a double chin might pass on your CoolSculpting messages in 2019, but jump on them in 2020.

And there are good reasons why someone might not respond to your clinic’s text messages in January, but really appreciate a 2nd, 3rd or 4th outreach from you in March or August..

Non-response does not always mean “no”

Very often, it just means “not right now.”

They might not have noticed the initial messages you sent them, or paid them more than a fleeting moment’s attention. As George Bernard Shaw said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

Or their finances might have changed… Or their availability… Or their priorities… 

Plus, when it comes to more dramatic aesthetic treatments, people don’t commit lightly. 

There are complex emotions involved when you change your body and your looks, so people can “uhhm” and “aah” for years…

A long sales cycle is natural for many of your treatments.

(In fact, that was the theme for the body sculpting sequence I wrote yesterday…

It was geared towards people who had been considering a treatment for years but never gone ahead because they didn’t have time for downtime. 

And now, when they’re working from home, they suddenly do!)

The lesson in all of this?

Non-response does not always mean “no”.

Very often, it just means “not right now.”

And if you are persistent with these leads, keep them in your orbit and give them periodic opportunities to buy, eventually there will come a moment when many of them say “yes”.

So don’t give up on people who contact you, but don’t book in the first week or two… 

Play the long game with them instead.

The easiest way to do this isn’t to phone your leads again and again… That kind of manual follow-up is too difficult, especially now that you’re probably working with fewer reception staff.

Instead, make sure every lead is on your email database – and send out a marketing email every single week.

Communicate with your patients and leads…

Entertain them…

Educate them…

Build up your relationship with them…

Encourage them, frequently, to get in touch…

And when something changes in their life and the timing for a treatment is finally right, they’ll land with you.

That’s exactly what we help medspas and aesthetic clinics do.

To find out how we can help you, too, make the most of your patient database, and get those leads through your doors again and again, click here to get in touch. I’ll get right back to you.